Pretty Paper, Precious Presents and Powerslams: For Christmas - Round 5 of my WWF Grudge Match!

Welcome to Round 5

of my

WWF

(Wow What Fun)
Grudge Match!

WWF Grudge Match is inspired by the pro wrestling exhibitions I watched

on television when I was a kid. Today I present, for your entertainment and

edification, original recordings, covers and a song parody, all competing

for your approval. Your mission, Jim, if you decide to accept it, is to

tell me which songs and which versions, if any, you prefer.

LET THE

WWF Grudge Match

BEGIN!

Remember, ladies and gentlemen...

This is only an exhibition...
This is not a competition...
Please... no wagering.

 JIMMY BOYD 

This is a kinder and gentler edition of Grudge Match because it features the uplifting

sounds of the season. The first Christmas song brings a tear to my eye every time

I listen, because it takes me back to my earliest memories of childhood. In fact,

this was the first record I ever owned, given to me by my parents, I was told,

on my second birthday. The song was waxed by 13 year old Jimmy Boyd,

a California singer who, in 1960, lived many a young man's dream by

marrying beautiful model & actress Yvonne Craig who later played

"Batgirl" on the hit TV series Batman. Let's go way back to the

age of innocence, Christmas time 1952, to hear an evergreen

that generations of children know and love. Jimmy Boyd

sings-- "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." 

 "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" 

 - Jimmy Boyd (Christmas 1952, 

 highest chart pos. #1 BB/#6 Cash Box) 

 THE LENNON SISTERS 

In my previous post, The Lennon Sisters invited us to enjoy the holidays on

"Christmas Island." The sweet sibling songbirds from Lawrence Welk are back

this week to take part in my Grudge Match. Here now are The Lennon Sisters

singing their version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." 

 "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" 

 - The Lennon Sisters (from 1960 album 

 Christmas With The Lennon Sisters) 

 WHAM! 

1984 was a tremendous year for the English pop duo Wham! The act

scored three chart-topping singles in the U.S. with "Wake Me Up Before

You Go-Go," "Careless Whisper" and "Everything She Wants."

The song "Last Christmas," released in the UK and other countries as the double A

side of "Everything She Wants," shot to #1 in three countries and #2 in eight others.

The music video shows Wham! members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley

along with their girlfriends and other twenty-somethings enjoying the holiday

at a Swiss ski resort. In conjunction with the charity super group Band Aid,

George and Andrew donated all royalties to the mid 80s Ethiopian famine.

 "Last Christmas" - Wham! 

 (Christmas 1984, double A side 

 of "Everything She Wants," 

 highest chart pos. #1 Denmark, 

 Slovenia & Sweden) 

 MEGAN SINGER 

Who can forget Shady Green's contribution to my

New Year's Day, 2019, post - the singing Singer Family

of San Diego, California, and their cool cover of the

Tommy James hit "Draggin' The Line"? Requests

have been pouring in (from my mama) to see

it again, so here goes.

Just when you thought it was safe to stick your hand in the fan, daughter

Megan Singer is back with another cover. Miss Singer proves she's a

zinger with this a delightfully gruesome piece of performance art

entitled-- "Zombie Last Christmas!"

 "Zombie Last Christmas" - Megan Singer 

 (Christmas season 2016) 

 THE LENNON SISTERS 

Please listen to a third song from The Lennon Sisters' 1960 Christmas album.

Here again are 'lil Chanet," Kathy, Peggy and Dianne, The Lennon Sisters,

singing a seasonal song that was written in 1934 and has been popular

ever since and recorded by many artists-- "Winter Wonderland." 

 "Winter Wonderland" - The Lennon Sisters 

 (from 1960 album Christmas With 

 The Lennon Sisters) 

 TONY BENNETT 

In 1968 the ageless wonder Tony Bennett, sometimes nicknamed

Tony Benefit for donating so much of his time to charitable causes,

reached Billboard's special holiday chart with this fine rendition

of "Winter Wonderland." Yule love it! 

 "Winter Wonderland" - Tony Bennett 

 (Christmas 1968, highest chart pos. 

 #87 Billboard US Holiday 100, 

 from 1968 album Snowfall aka 

 The Tony Bennett Christmas Album)  

 I'm wrestling with the idea of

bringing you more volumes of

WWF Grudge Match

Stick around... oh, and by the way...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2019 - Year of the Dell Rat

 CAN SHADY DEL KNIGHT KEEP YOU 
 ENTERTAINED IN THE COMING YEAR? 

 IS 

 PETER 

  GRIFFIN 

 "THAT GUY"? 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's exciting to be starting my first full year of blogcasting from

my new facility here at SPMM - Shady's Place Music & Memories.

S-P-M-M means more music with less talk, so let's get to it.

The gang's all here! I am pleased to welcome back the six members of

The Shady Bunch, the staff of cool DJs who will keep the great sounds

coming at you throughout 2019. The honor of spinning the first

record of the new year goes to my good friend Shady Green

who invites you to climb aboard his Wayback Machine!

Hey, thank you, Shady Del Knight, and happy new year

to one and all! My first nugget of the year is a real mind-

blower, and if you're following our simulcast on YouTube,

you will enjoy seeing as well as hearing this performance.

It's the singing Singer Family of San Diego, California,

along with a group of go-go dancers from the local

Young Actors' Theatre.

CLICK TO START VIDEO!

Together they flash us back to 1971 with a cool cover of Tommy James'

biggest solo hit, the million seller "Draggin' The Line." Look out,
world... here comes-- The Singer Family!

 "Draggin' the Line" - Tommy James 

 (cover by The Singer Family, San Diego, 

 ft. go-go dancers from Young Actors' Theatre) 

The Zinger (Singer) Family of Southern

California there with a treat for the eyes

as well as the ears, bringing back the era

 of psychedelic sunshine pop, performing

the song "Draggin' The Line"... a top 5

hit for Tommy James of Shondells fame.

Hard to believe, but Tommy's groovy

tune almost got buried on the B side

of the single. Fortunately the decision

makers recognized the hit potential of

"Draggin' The Line," changed their

minds at the last minute and

released it as the A side.  

That's it for me today. I'll be back soon to give you a good

long ride in my Wayback Machine. Now it's time for me

to turn over the mic to everybody's favorite pooch,

S-P-M-M's very own Hound of Sound-- Toto Moto!

Thanks, Shady Green! You're a RUFF RUFF RUFF

act to follow! (BA-DUM-BUMP) My first record of

the year is a big beat ditty that's guaranteed

to blow out your woofers. Woofers... get it?

(BA-DUM-BUMP) It comes to us from across

 the great pond, and I don't mean the

one I made on the living room floor.

(BA-DUM-BUMP)

CLICK TO START VIDEO!

Remember when The Dave Clark Five were just as popular in
America as the Fab Four? Here's the English pop rock quintet
with one of their earliest and biggest hits-- "Bits And Pieces!"

 "Bits And Pieces" - The Dave Clark Five 

 (Apr./May 1964, highest chart pos. #4 Hot 100/#2 UK) 

The DC-5 with one of their biggies from 1964, "Bits And

Pieces." I need to go huntin' for a hydrant, but I'll be back

later in the year with more nifty numbers like that one

in Toto's Top Tunes Time Tunnel. Up next, my good

buddy The Geator, Jerry Blavat, who just now dug

up a nugget from his show Geator Gold. I think

you're gonna dig it, too. Take it away, Jerry!

Alright, faaantastic!!! How 'bout a big round of applause
for my canine compadre, Mr. Toto Moto? Greetings and
salutations! I am the Geator with the Heater... I am
the Boss with the big Hot Sauce... and you're tuned
to the greatest little station in the nation, S-P-M-M!

CLICK TO START VIDEO!

My first spin of the year is a bombastic dance record dedicated to
all my yon teenagers on the Discophonic TV Scene. My good friends
The Contours from the Motor City are here to ask the musical question,
"What does every man look at first?" and it ain't what you think, y'all!

 "First I Look At The Purse" - The Contours 

 (Sept. 1965, highest chart pos. #57 Hot 100/#12 R&B) 

The great Motown Sound of The Contours and "First I
Look At The Purse." I gotta split, but I'll be back soon
with more great sounds of yesteryear on Geator Gold.

Now here to play the next song is a stupendous
record spinner, a real winner, my main man...
Mr. Shady Blue!

Thank you, Jerry Blavat, and happy new year, everyone!
By now it's no secret that I'm crazy about Elvis the Pelvis,
hence the name of my radio show Stuck Like Glue On
Shady Blue. My first song of the year is a sweet
ballad that Elvis sang to his lovely co-star
in the 1965 movie Girl Happy.

CLICK TO START VIDEO!

It's Shelley Fabares (Mary Stone on The Donna Reed Show) forgetting

all about Johnny Angel as Elvis serenades her with "Puppet On A String!"

 "Puppet On A String" - Elvis Presley 

 (from Apr. 1965 film Girl Happy) 

Elvis "The King" crooning the tune "Puppet On A String"
to pretty Shelley Fabares in the movie Girl Happy.
Keep it here on S-P-M-M Radio for lots more
pelvic platters and great oldies of the 50s
and early 60s made by other artists on
my show Stuck Like Glue on Shady Blue.
Now here's my good buddy Dell Rat Tom
to play one of his favorite Jukebox Giants!

Thank you, Shady Blue, and happy new year! I'm beginning 2019 with a
flashback to a day in May of 1965. I was sick and spent that entire day in bed.
Yet, that evening, I begged my dad to drive me to a discount department store
so that I could buy a certain record, one of the most exciting sounds I ever heard.

It was "Wooly Bully" by rock 'n' roller Sam The Sham

and his band The Pharaohs. Named after his pet cat,

"Wooly Bully" was Sam's first and biggest hit. The

record shot to #2 on the chart only to be denied

the #1 spot by the Four Tops smash hit "I Can't

Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)." It was

quite an accomplishment for Motown's Tops and

Sam, a Tex-Mex artist from Dallas, to hold the top

two spots on the Hot 100 at a time when British

Invasion acts were dominating the chart.

Here now are Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs with that

rockin' little record I just had to have - the one that

got me up out of my sick bed-- "Wooly Bully."

CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

 "Wooly Bully" - Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs 

 (May/June 1965, highest chart pos. #2 Hot 100) 

Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs with their signature song

"Wooly Bully." Don't touch that dial. I'll be back throughout

the year to spin more of the greatest hits of the Shady Dell

on my regularly scheduled show Jukebox Giants. Now,

here's one of the coolest guys you're ever gonna meet.

For him cool comes naturally, and so it is apropos

that he hosts a program here on  S-P-M-M called

Natural Hy. He's my Shady Bunch buddy Hy Lit!

Thanks, Tommy boy! I appreciate the kind intro, my friend.
Hey, this is your pal on the radio, your man with the plan,
on the scene with the record machine here at station
S-P-M-M, where the cool oldies go to live forever.
Callin' uptown, downtown, crosstown - here, there,
everywhere, yours truly Hy Lit, and I'm starting the
year off right with a story song inspired by one of
Aesop's fables - The Farmer and the Viper.

CLICK TO START VIDEO!

It's without a doubt one of the grooviest sounds around, a Northern Soul killer,

a guaranteed dance floor filler, from the man who gave us the #1 smash

"Show And Tell," Al Wilson-- "The Sssssnake!"

 "The Snake" - Al Wilson 

 (Sept./Oct. 1968, highest chart pos. 
 #27 Hot 100/#32 R&B) 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR 

 FROM YOUR PALS 

 "THE SHADY BUNCH" 

 AT S-P-M-M... 

 THE STATION THAT'S #1 

 FOR MUSIC AND FUN!